


Good Eggs

by Elexica



Series: Elexica does AU-gust 2020 [11]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: AU-gust 2020, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Kaiba needs to get the eggs, M/M, Rated T for swearing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, but one powerful bird stands in his way, ygocollablove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25853716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elexica/pseuds/Elexica
Summary: Kaiba is forced to work as a farmhand the summer before college.  Joey doesn't mind the company.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Series: Elexica does AU-gust 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860052
Comments: 14
Kudos: 31
Collections: AUgust 2020





	Good Eggs

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 11 of AU-Gust: Farm/Ranch
> 
> Song: All American Boy by Steve Grand
> 
> I had so much fun writing this.

Of all of the miserable things his adopted father had forced him to do, this was the worst. True to form, he was the only student in Kansas City, Missouri to be accepted into Yale this year. He had accomplished everything demanded of him thus far, but instead of being satisfied, his adopted father dreamed up new impossible tasks.

“Get in the damn chicken coop, Kaiba!” the farm boy shouted at him. Joey had been telling him what to do all day long, even though they were the same age. It was driving Kaiba insane. 

Kaiba was hesitating on the wooden ramp. Although Kaiba was painfully familiar with schooling his breath into submission, he was struggling not to hyperventilate at the little red building. He looked in the coop. It was well lit and smelled of straw, chicken shit, and feathers. _Bird musk_. It wasn’t necessarily unsanitary, but the straw was scattered everywhere, and behind some metal wire fencing, there were about two dozen live chickens.

_“We own a lot of farmland, Seto. If you think you are fit to inherit it, you ought to be capable of running it.”_

Old bastard hadn’t spent an hour of his life working this land, Kaiba seethed. Kaiba had spent the entire day in the brutal sun tending to the crops and following the instructions of this _imbecile_. After the sun had initially set, he’d been asked to fix run down farm equipment. The other teen had been impressed by how quickly Kaiba had repaired a tractor that Joey had declared a goner. Some oil stains had found their way into the denim of his couture jeans. After fourteen hours of torture, he had been hoping to spend the night making a dent in the Principles of Economics textbook assigned for his Freshman Seminar. And now, when he should be preparing to show those Ivy League Legacies what his natural genius could do… he was being required to—

“Kaiba, I will fuckin’ push you in. We can’t go to sleep ‘til you gather the damn eggs.”

Kaiba spun around. He stared the blond boy down with his signature vicious glare. Every debate team competitor in the National Championship had cowered beneath that glare. Joey just yawned.

“Why can’t _you_ get the eggs?! You have a repertoire with these birds, do you not?” Kaiba barked.

“Eh?! It’s your turn.” Joey moved up the wooden ramp, standing only inches from Kaiba’s back. He could feel the other boy’s breath on the back of his neck.

“Come on, rich boy. I’ll help ya.” Joey planted his hand at the small of Kaiba’s back and gave it a gentle shove. Kaiba flinched unintentionally and moved away from the touch. Unconsciously, he crossed the boundary, fully entering the little red coop. 

Joey opened a latch in the chicken wire and gestured for Kaiba to enter the belly of the beast. Kaiba reluctantly stepped forward, and through the gate. He fully abandoned any effort to hide his disgust. “Fine. Where are the eggs?”

Joey offered him a straw basket. It looked like an Easter decoration. “That’s for you to find out, Kaiba. Just look around. Check under the big black chicken. She looks like he’s keeping one warm.” 

Kaiba’s grimace tightened. “Check under the chicken?” He hissed.

“Yeah,” Joey said, “She likes it when you pet her, gently, and she’ll letcha grab an egg.”

It was the worst game of hide and seek Kaiba could imagine. The chickens looked scarier that he had anticipated with those beady eyes and sharp looking beaks. The skin of their faces reminded Kaiba that they were descended from dinosaurs. Their legs looked like vultures. 

Did they really need eggs? Surely there was a better way to do this. How was his adopted father not knee-deep in factory farming to increase productivity? The entire industry could not be based around petting these hens. 

Kaiba slowly uncovered about fourteen eggs from around the hut without having to touch a single chicken. He only suffered one close call, which required him to jump entirely over the bird. He was fortunately nimble enough to land softly and not scare the beasts.

Kaiba turned to face his companion, who was struggling to hold in his laughter as the brunet dodged the animals. “Fourteen. That’s plenty.”

“Yeah, but we gotta get ‘em all, Kaiba. Just pet ol’ Red Eyes. She won’t peck ya. Prolly.” Joey smiled.

Kaiba’s molars ground against each other. He closed his eyes, imagined his scenic dorm at Yale, being able to visit his brother’s boarding school by train. He imagined sitting behind his father’s desk, the man no longer micromanaging his life. 

No chicken would stand between him and his future.

Kaiba inhaled slowly, steadying his hand. It still trembled as it landed lightly on the soft feathers of the bird.

“Good chicken,” he whispered. “Don’t move.” He nervously stroked the chicken again. And he released a long held breath as he inched his left hand under the chicken.

It was very warm, and very soft.

“Gooooood chicken….” He said through gritted teeth.

His fingers made contact with the smooth shell of the egg. It was warm from the protection of the hen. He was grateful for his long fingers as he wrapped them around that egg, forcing another stilted breath out.

“Good—AH FUCK!” The chicken waved its surprisingly wide wings, its long black feathers erupting from its body, those eyes red and primal. 

That chicken put the fear of God into Seto Kaiba. 

With the egg still in his grasp, he dashed for the door. A few pieces of straw slipped under his boat shoes, and he skidded toward the wire gate. 

Joey was able to stop cracking up long enough to unlatch the gate and release Kaiba from his nightmare.

“Get it?” Joey asked, warm smile lighting up his whole face. Kaiba noted, with some frustration, that the blond had dimples.

Kaiba produced the egg, pressing it into the other boys’ calloused hands. In the same tense fashion, he handed over the full basket.

“Nice work! You ready to hit the hay?”

Kaiba sighed loudly. His patience had run out somewhere in that chicken coop. “I am ready to go home.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s in the plan for ya, money-bags. C’mon, I’ve got a bunk bed. Yer stuff is in the tack house, right?” Joey swung an arm over Kaiba’s shoulders. It was heavy and warm. Kaiba could feel the sun-kissed skin against the back of his neck, over the edge of his t-shirt. Joey’s arms were surprisingly sinewy for how strong they were.

The walk back to the tack house felt quieter than Kaiba expected. He found himself staring up at the stars, able to make out several constellations. Orion’s belt was bold and bright tonight.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Joey asked, leaning his head on Kaiba’s shoulder. Internally, Kaiba wondered if this boy was so handsy with everyone he met, or if Kaiba was somehow special.

“Surprisingly, not much.” Kaiba answered, honestly. It hadn’t been this calm in Seto’s head in recent memory. There was a peace that Kaiba didn’t quite know what to do with. “Just looking at the stars.”

Kaiba moved his external arm to point at the sky. He tried not to move his shoulder as to not dislodge Joey’s arm. He wanted Joey to stay there indefinitely. It didn’t quite work, as the constellation was high in the sky, and Joey withdrew it.

“See those three stars,” Kaiba smiled in spite of himself. He hadn’t been able to show someone his knowledge of astronomy in years, since Mokuba had been sent away. “They form Orion’s belt. And then those two, those are his shoulders. You can actually see his bow tonight too. Not much light pollution out here.”

Joey smiled. Kaiba’s head spun a little, smelling the dirt and sweat, and something a little unique.

“I’m real glad to have someone else to help around the farm,” Joey said in a low tone of voice. 

Kaiba inhaled deeply and threaded his fingers on his right hand with the other boy’s left hand. “It could be worse.” Joey tightened the grasp, trembling slightly.

Joey stopped walking and ran the pad of his thumb across Kaiba’s hand. The moonlight highlighted his soft features, sticking softly to Joey’s eyelashes. He was dangerously close. Kaiba was spellbound.

“You think too much, doncha?” And with that, Joey caught Kaiba in a warm kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, that’s Joey’s rarest animal—Red Eyes Black Chicken. He doesn’t summon it in attack mode unless he’s in trouble.  
> In one draft of this, Joey also had a Border Collie named Time Wizard. Just assume the fluffy buddy is waiting for him to come back to the tack house.


End file.
